New global actors have emerged as the production, consumption and distribution patterns transform (Wunsh-Wincent 2010). The stranglehold of mass media over production and dissemination is loosening, and media entrepreneurs are increasingly taking up their place in a fragmented media ecology. The main objective of the analysis is to determine the incidence and assess the main characteristics of microwork in some African countries (Rwanda, Tanzania, Kenya, Mozambique, Ghana, Nigeria and South Africa) and secondly to identify some new policy paths for developing countries to leverage microwork for development without microworkers becoming part of global patterns of labour exploitation that erode hard-won labour rights and as a result of what has been referred to as a global ‘race to the bottom’ as platfoms tap into labour bidding practices.
This study of microwork or platform work across seven African countries undertaken as part of the seven African country and 16 Global South country studies provides the only demand side perspective of online generated work and although statistically limited by the instances of such activity, in its limitations counters the narrative of microwork as the panacea for Africa’s employment challenges.
There has been considerable hype about the potential of online work to contribute to economic growth and development and ameliorate unemployment in Africa through the creation of jobs, particularly ‘decent work’, by freeing citizens from geographic constraints of labour demand and misalignment of skills and resources in national economies.
The discussion addresses structural drivers of precarity in the marketplace and of its ongoing success. The findings suggest that despite the company’s emphases on efficiency, flexibility, and freedom from the physical office, freelancers face significant trade-offs in undertaking such work, notably its infrequency, barriers to high wages, and intense global competition. An exploration of the characteristics of technology-mediated work on Upwork, including contract structure, wages, consistency of work, risk-management strategies, and profiles of clients and freelancers follows. It is framed against neoliberal narratives about the creative economy, including promises of financial success and freedom from rigid Fordism. The analysis begins by contextualizing the growth of freelancing in a transformation of capitalism to a mode of flexible accumulation. This paper engages discourses about the nature of creative work through a case study of creative worker freelancing on Upwork, an online marketplace.
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